Residents living on a Sittingbourne housing estate say they are victims of a series of broken promises after facilities such as shops or a pub have never been built and a link road remains incomplete.

When a housing development at Great Easthall was first planned, it included space for retail and even a school and a medical centre were once options.

The Northern Relief Road was also due to be finished, linking the homes with the A2 at Bapchild.

More than a decade later, hundreds of homes have gone up but the rest of what was promised has not materialised, leaving people living in what they describe as a “giant cul-de-sac”.

The final parcel to be developed, at the entrance to the estate on Swale Way, was to include shops but plans submitted to Swale council ask for permission only to build up to 33 homes.

Gareth Harvey, who has lived there for just over 10 years, said people felt disappointed, frustrated and let down that what had been promised could never be built.

“I was sold the idea that it was a nice new village being created. Up until around four or five years ago, developers also told us that land had been set aside for a new school and that the completion of Sittingbourne’s northern relief road, which would complete the road network joining estate, was on the horizon.

Gareth Harvey

“Over the years, all those promises made to us just seem to have more or less been broken."

“I think everyone is fed up all those plans have been thrown on the scrap heap and one or two are saying they want to move.”

Since 2003, the plot in question has been owned by two developers, the second of which, Henry Davidson Developments Limited, went bust.

It was bought at auction last year by Old Hall Street Properties Limited, part of Trenport Property Holdings Ltd.

A planning application for the 33 homes, put in by Trenport Investments Ltd, says including even a small retail unit would not be viable.

Operators such as Tesco Express, Sainsbury’s Local or the Co-op “would not be interested”, says a design and access statement.

It concludes: “This is compounded by the location’s relative inaccessibility from other population centres and the fact it is at a dead-end, with no prospect of passing trade.”

The statement also quoted a manager from Shepherd Neame as saying the estate could accommodate a pub only if the Northern Relief Road was completed.

Fed-up residents have started an online petition, calling for “amenities not properties” at the entrance to the estate.

Cllr Andrew Bowles (Con), county councillor for Great Easthall, said people had to be aware that on other new estates shops had failed to survive and had been closed.

“You cannot buck the market. You can’t force anyone to open a shop and lose money.”

He said he had always supported completion of the Northern Relief Road but only on the condition that it was combined with a southern link to the M2, to avoid increasing congestion and pollution on the A2 east of Sittingbourne.

The deadline for comments on the Trenport proposals is Tuesday, October 11.

Visit pa.midkent.gov.uk/online-applications/ and use the code 16/505280/OUT